Shadow Pack — Under the Stars, Night
It had been three nights of waiting. Three nights Ryder had sat at her side, refusing food, refusing rest, listening only to the rise and fall of her shallow breaths.
Every time her fingers twitched in sleep, his heart stopped. Every time her breathing faltered, Aiden snarled inside him, restless, on edge.
He had fought wars, crossed blood-soaked fields, endured betrayals from those he had once trusted with his life, but nothing had ever broken him like these three nights of silence.
Ryder’s thoughts clawed at him in those sleepless hours. He remembered her laughter, the curve of her smile in rare moments of peace, the stubborn fire in her eyes when she even challenged him.
To think all of it could vanish, that the Flame itself could flicker out
